TANZANIA TAARIFA YA UTEKELEZAJI 2014–2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INDEPENDENT REPORTING MECHANISM (IRM): <strong>TANZANIA</strong> PROGRESS REPORT 2014-2015 Tanzania’s action plan boasts well-targeted commitments that, if implemented, will advance access to information, as well as improve public oversight of the extractive and landmanagement sectors. However, improving the level of civic participation in commitments needs greater emphasis, in addition to ensuring that implementation targets are met. The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a voluntary international initiative that aims to secure commitments from governments to their citizenry to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Tanzania began its formal participation in September 2011. The State House Good Governance Coordination Unit, located in the Presidency, serves as the secretariat of OGP in Tanzania. Further support for implementation of commitments at city, municipal, and district level comes from the Prime Minister’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government. A steering committee, made of government officials and civil society representatives oversees the implementation of the second action plan. OGP PROCESS Countries participating in the OGP follow a process for consultation during development of their OGP action plan and during implementation. The government used the online OGP Portal to make the notice and format available for comments by the public on the draft action plan. With only 20 per cent of the Tanzanian population having access to the Internet, consultation may have been limited. The government invited a variety of stakeholders for the consultation on the development of the action plan. Over 80 institutions and organizations were invited and took part in the consultative meeting held in Dar es Salaam. There was a lack of representation from trade unions - a key part of civil society in Tanzania - as well as a lack of private sector organizations. Parliamentarians were not involved in drafting the action plan. The mainstream media was well represented, including, for the first time, Tanzanian bloggers. Despite high participation in the meeting, few comments were ultimately accepted into the plan. Final decisions concerning the action plan’s development and its implementation rested with the government OGP secretariat. The government designated a steering committee to oversee the implementation of the second action plan. The committee met on ad hoc basis in Dar es Salaam. The committee has not published any progress reports. The self-assessment report was not published in 2015. AT A GLANCE MEMBER SINCE: 2011 NUMBER OF COMMITMENTS: 5 LEVEL OF COMPLETION: LIMITED: 4 of 5 NOT STARTED: 1 of 5 TIMING ON SCHEDULE: 0 of 5 COMMITMENT EMPHASIS: ACCESS TO INFORMATION: 5 of 5 CIVIC PARTICIPATION: 0 of 5 PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY: 2 of 5 TECH & INNOVATION FOR TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY: 3 of 5 NUMBER OF COMMITMENTS THAT WERE: CLEARLY RELEVANT TO AN OGP VALUE: 5 of 5 OF TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL IMPACT: 1 of 5 SUBSTANTIAL OR COMPLETE IN IMPLEMENTATION: 0 of 5 ALL THREE (): 0 of 5 This report was prepared by Ngunga Greyson Tepani, an independent researcher EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | 3